Automatic distribution of inmate phone recordings

ABSTRACT

Embodiments for automatically distributing phone call recordings to interested parties generally include associating one or more forwarding criteria with each of one or more interested parties, establishing a phone call from a calling party to a destination number through an institutional phone system, recording the phone call, and, if the phone call satisfies one or more forwarding criteria associated with one or more interested parties, automatically distributing the recording of the phone call to the at least one interested party associated with the satisfied one or more forwarding criteria. Distribution may be by e-mail, by uploading the recording to a website that interested parties (and preferably only interested parties) can access, by queuing the recordings for export to physical media, and/or through a voice mail system. Calls may be selected for distribution based on the caller, the called party, conversation content, call time, or any other suitable criteria.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/632,066, filed Jun. 23, 2017, entitled Automatic Distribution ofInmate Phone Recordings, which is a continuation of U.S. applicationSer. No. 13/923,046, filed Jun. 20, 2013, entitled System and Method forthe Automatic Distribution of Inmate Phone Recordings (now U.S. Pat. No.9,692,889), which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.11/852,642, filed on Sep. 10, 2007, entitled System and Method for theAutomatic Distribution of Inmate Phone Recordings (now U.S. Pat. No.9,357,061), all of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The instant invention relates generally to telecommunication servicesthat are provided through an institutional phone system, such as thephone system in a correctional institution. In particular, the instantinvention relates to a system and method for delivering recordings oftelephone conversations, such as inmate telephone conversations, tointerested individuals, such as police and district attorneyinvestigators.

Background Art

In the correctional industry, inmate phone calls are often controlledthrough sophisticated call processing equipment. The call processingequipment controls various aspects of the use of the telephone in orderto meet a variety of competing concerns including security,accessibility, and revenue generation. One objective of an inmatetelephone system is to maximize the security of the system and to alsomaximize the revenue produced by the system while providing the inmatewith accessibility to reasonable telecommunication services asauthorized by the institution.

One feature that inmate phone systems may provide is the ability tomaintain lists of allowed or blocked phone numbers by inmate, by classof inmate, or globally for a facility. Such lists allow the institutionto regulate who an inmate can and cannot call. As an example of a listapplied to a specific inmate, an inmate may be allowed to call his wife,but may not be allowed to call a co-defendant. As an example of a globallist, all inmates may be allowed to call the local public defender'soffice, but may be disallowed from calling local judges. This featurebalances the concern for security (e.g., disallowing calls to victims,witnesses and judges) with the concern of allowing an inmate withaccessibility for legally mandated purposes (e.g., calls to the publicdefender) or personal reasons (e.g., calls to family members).

Another feature that an inmate telephone system may provide is theability to monitor and record calls. This feature addresses the securityconcerns of the facility by allowing internal investigators to monitorwhat is occurring inside the institution and among the inmatepopulation. This feature addresses the security concerns of societygenerally by allowing external investigators access to phoneconversations that relate to the investigation of activities external tothe institution.

Another feature that an inmate telephone system may provide is therecording and retrieval of call detail information (e.g., the identityof the caller, the called party, the time of the call, and the like).This feature is important to addressing the concerns of security andrevenue. Call detail records allow investigators to research data suchas the inmate that placed the call, the phone number that was dialed,what time the call was placed, and how long the conversation lasted.This research can often be performed by call, by inmate, by callednumber, by time of call and by any combination thereof. Investigatorscan analyze this data to determine patterns and connections betweenpeople and places that are relevant to internal and externalinvestigations. Call detail records are also the fundamental datarequired for billing calls and managing revenue.

Another feature that an inmate telephone system may provide is theability to alert and/or notify an investigator of a call of interest.This feature allows an investigator to be notified when a specificinmate makes a phone call, when a specific phone number is dialed, or acombination thereof. This feature addresses the both internal andexternal security needs by immediately alerting an investigator when aperson or pattern of interest is identified and allowing theinvestigator to immediately monitor the call, review the call details,review the call recording, or any combination thereof, for example togather intelligence.

A function of substantially all inmate phone systems is to enable thebilling of phone calls. Inmate telephone systems provide differentmethods for inmates to place and pay for calls. For example, callpayment options may include collect calling (wherein the called partypays for the call), debit calling (wherein the inmate pays for the callwith funds from their commissary account), pre-paid calling cards, andpre-paid accounts associated with a called number.

Another feature that an inmate telephone system may provide is theability to allow free calls. Free calls may be allowed by phone (e.g., aparticular device dedicated to free calls), by dialed phone number, byinmate, or by phone location. Typically, an individual is permitted tomake one or more free calls upon arrest and/or incarceration. Free callsare permitted to allow the arrestee to call an attorney, to contact abail bondsman, to notify an associate or family member that they areincarcerated, or any combination thereof. The free call featureaddresses the concern of allowing inmates reasonable access to inmatecalling services for legal and personal reasons.

Implementation of many of the features discussed above relies upon theability to identify the inmate using the phone. In order to implementfeatures specific to the inmate using the phone, the phone system mustprovide some way to authenticate and/or identify the user. This can bedone, for example, through the use of a Telephone ID (TID), a biometric,or other authentication technique.

While the inmate phone systems and features described above address, toa certain extent, the balance between security, accessibility, andrevenue, some of the features described above are not fully utilized.This may be due to the staffing overhead required to effectivelyimplement the feature. That is, in some cases, utilization of aparticular feature may create an additional burden on a correctionalstaff that is already operating within tight budgetary constraints.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Two features of inmate telephone systems that are often not fullyutilized are the capability to record calls and make the calls availablefor export and the related capability to automatically notify aninvestigator when a call of interest is placed. In one typical scenario,when an investigator is notified that a call of interest has been made,the investigator must contact the correctional institution and requestthat the correctional staff locate, export, and ship the call(s) ofinterest to the investigator. Another typical scenario is for aninvestigator to request export of all calls for a particular inmate, allcalls to a specific number, all calls by a particular inmate to aparticular target phone number, all calls from a specific date range,some combination thereof, or the like.

Another shortcoming of many existing inmate telephone systems relates tothe capability that notifies an investigator of a call of interest andpermits the investigator to listen in to the call in progress. To beable to listen in to the call in progress, the investigator must beavailable at the time the call is talking place. In the event theinvestigator misses the call, some inmate phone systems provide theinvestigator with an alert that the call has occurred, for example bysending the investigator a message via e-mail or another messagingsystem. Upon receiving such notification, the investigator must gothrough the process of accessing the inmate phone and/or recordingsystem, locating the call, and listening to it. Often, the investigatorcannot perform these steps himself, and must instead request that thecorrectional facility find and export the call to the investigator forreview, which shifts the burden of locating and shipping recordings tothe correctional facility's staff.

Many inmate telephone systems require a series of manual steps to becarried out to locate and export call recordings requested by externalinvestigators. This process can take several minutes to several hours,depending on the number of calls exported, the storage media where thesource recordings exist, the type of media that the calls are beingexported to, and the connectivity that exists between the source andtarget recording devices. These additional steps increase the timebefore the investigator receives, and therefore can respond to,actionable intelligence.

Requiring correctional staff to locate and export call recordings alsoaffects security within the correctional institution. Many correctionalfacilities today are facing a constrained budget yet record high prisonpopulations, requiring them to make efficient use of limited staffresources. While addressing requests from external investigatorsbenefits investigations that enhance to the safety and security ofsociety at large, doing so can divert correctional staff frommaintaining the inmate population and the physical security of thecorrectional environment.

Accordingly, it is desirable to improve the accessibility of inmatetelephone calls to investigators and others monitoring those calls.

Disclosed herein is a method of automatically distributing a recordingof a phone call to at least one interested party, the phone call beingplaced by a calling party through an institutional phone system to adestination number. The method includes the steps of: associating one ormore forwarding criteria with each of one or more interested parties;establishing the phone call from the calling party to the destinationnumber through the institutional phone system; recording the phone call;and if the phone call satisfies one or more forwarding criteriaassociated with one or more interested parties, automaticallydistributing the recording of the phone call to the at least oneinterested party associated with the satisfied one or more forwardingcriteria.

In some embodiments of the invention, the step of associating one ormore forwarding criteria with each of one or more interested partiesincludes associating at least one calling party identity with at leastone interested party. The step of associating one or more forwardingcriteria with each of one or more interested parties may also includeassociating at least one destination number with at least one interestedparty, associating at least one time of call with at least oneinterested party, and/or associating at least one conversation contentitem with at least one interested party.

Optionally, the step of associating one or more forwarding criteria witheach of one or more interested parties includes associating two or moreof the following with at least one interested party: calling partyidentity forwarding criteria, destination number forwarding criteria,time of call forwarding criteria, conversation content forwardingcriteria, and combinations thereof.

In some embodiments of the invention, the step of associating one ormore forwarding criteria with each of one or more interested partiesincludes: establishing a plurality of data records, each data recordincluding at least contact information for an interested party and oneforwarding criterion; and storing the plurality of data records in arecipients database. Each data record may further include one or moredelivery criteria for the interested party.

It is contemplated that the step of automatically distributing mayinclude: setting a data flag when the recording of the phone call iscomplete; and if the phone call satisfies one or more forwardingcriteria associated with one or more interested parties, distributingthe recording of the phone call in response to the data flag to the atleast one interested party associated with the satisfied one or moreforwarding criteria.

The step of distributing the recording of the phone call to the at leastone interested party associated with the satisfied one or moreforwarding criteria may include e-mailing a copy of the recorded phonecall to the at least one interested party, exporting the recording ofthe phone call to one or more physical media and providing the at leastone interested party with access to the one or more physical media,uploading the recording of the phone call to a website, and/or providingaccess to the call via a hosted voicemail system. In embodiments of theinvention where the recording of the phone call is exported to one ormore physical media, it is contemplated that this may include: placingthe recording of the phone call in an export queue; and exporting therecording of the phone call to one or more physical media from theexport queue on a scheduled basis.

Optionally, the method further includes: establishing a second phonecall from a calling party to a second destination number through theinstitutional phone system; recording the second phone call; determiningthat the second phone call does not satisfy any forwarding criteriaassociated with one or more interested parties; and storing the recordedsecond phone call into memory without automatically forwarding it.

In certain embodiments of the invention, the method also includesenclosing the recording of the phone call in a security wrapper prior todistributing the recording of the phone call to the at least oneinterested party. The security wrapper may provide authentication of therecording (e.g., for use as evidence in court), encryption of therecording, or both authentication and encryption.

The present invention also provides a method of automaticallydistributing a phone call recording to one or more interested parties,which generally includes the steps of: storing a plurality of recipientrecords in a recipients database, each recipient record includingidentity information for at least one recipient, forwarding criterion tospecify the conditions for determining which recordings will beforwarded, and at least one delivery criterion to specify the deliverymedium for forwarding recordings; establishing a phone call; recordingthe phone call; identifying one or more recipient records whoseforwarding criterion are met by information associated with the phonecall; and distributing the recording of the phone call to the at leastone recipient included therein according to the at least one deliverycriterion associated with the at least one recipient.

The step of distributing the recording may include: setting a statusflag to indicate that a recording of a phone call is available forforwarding; and automatically distributing the recording of the phonecall to the at least one recipient in response to a change in status ofthe status flag, whereby the distribution is accomplished using the atleast one delivery criterion associated with the at least one recipient.Optionally, the step of distributing the recording may include:encrypting the recording of the phone call using an encryption key tocreate an encrypted recording; and wherein the distribution step iscarried out by distributing the encrypted recording. The encryption keymay be, for example, a public key associated with a private/public keysystem.

In another aspect of the present invention, a system for automaticallydistributing a phone call recording to one or more interested partiesgenerally includes: at least one telephone device; a recipientsdatabase, the recipients database including a plurality of recipientrecords, each recipient record including identity information for atleast one recipient, forwarding criterion to specify the conditions fordetermining which recordings will be forwarded, and at least onedelivery criterion to specify the delivery medium for forwardingrecordings; and a call recording distribution processor that identifiesone or more recipient records whose forwarding criterion are met byinformation associated with the phone call and distributes the recordingof the phone call to the at least one recipient identified therein usingthe medium associated with the at least one delivery criterion. Thesystem may also include at least one forwarding agent, such as an e-mailagent, a web service agent, an export queuing agent, a voicemail agent,or a combination thereof, wherein the call recording distributionprocessor invokes the at least one forwarding agent to distribute therecording of the phone call to the at least one recipient. Typically,the system will also include at least one call recording archive inwhich is stored a plurality of phone call recordings.

The present invention advantageously provides functionality beyond thefunctionality provided by many inmate phone providers. The inventiondisclosed herein provides a method to automatically distribute an inmatephone call recording upon the completion of the call to one or moreinterested parties that have been approved by the facilityadministration. The present invention thereby addresses the shortcomingsof existing inmate phone systems, leading to increased security andefficiency. Moreover, the present invention advantageously improvesoutside investigator access to recorded calls without adverselyimpacting the quality, security, or performance of the inmatetelecommunications services.

The foregoing and other aspects, features, details, utilities, andadvantages of the present invention will be apparent from reading thefollowing description and claims, and from reviewing the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overview of an inmate telephone system including recordedcall distribution functionality according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart that illustrates one method of call recordingdistribution according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method and system for distributingrecorded calls of interest to one or more parties. Typically, thesecalls will take place at least in part using an institutional telephonesystem. The term “institutional telephone system” (or “institutionalphone system”) as used herein refers to a telephone system installed inan environment wherein it is desirable to control or regulate telephoneusage, including, without limitation, correctional facilities, militaryinstallations, hospitals, schools, business offices, and governmentoffices. Though the invention will be described in connection with thecorrections industry, and in particular in connection with an inmatetelephone system that distributes recorded calls to investigators, itshould be understood that the invention is not so limited. One ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the principles disclosedherein may be employed to good advantage in any telephone system whereit is desirable to monitor telephone calls (e.g., telephonic sales callsand technical support calls).

The call recording distribution system according to the presentinvention may be implemented as an enhancement to an inmate telephonesystem, such as the ITI Offender Communication System. Of course, thecall recording distribution system disclosed herein may also beimplemented in connection with other inmate telephone systems,including, but not limited to, Global Tel*Link's LazerPhone system,Securus Technologies' Secure Call Platform, Pay-Tel Communications,Inc.'s inmate telephone system, and PCS Corporation's InmateCommunications Systems. One of ordinary skill in the art will generallyappreciate the functions and capabilities of an inmate telephone system.Thus, inmate telephone systems, such as those listed above, aredescribed herein only to the extent necessary to understand the presentinvention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a call recording distributionsystem 10, for example an inmate telephone system including callrecording distribution functionality. The call recording distributionsystem 10 generally includes one or more telephone devices 12 (referredto herein as “inmate phones”), which are coupled to one or more phonesystem servers 16, for example through connection block 14. One ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate that telephone devices 12 maybe coupled to phone system servers 16 through other means, such asthrough hard-wiring or digitally through VOIP technology, withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Only onephone system server 16 is illustrated in FIG. 1 for the sake of clarity.

The phone system server 16 is coupled to one or more databases, such asa call recording archive 18 (which stores recordings of calls made usingtelephone devices 12), a configuration database 20, and a recipientsdatabase 22. The term “database” as used herein includes, but is notlimited to, relational databases in which a plurality of data sets areassociated with each other and stored, preferably as one or morerecords. The database may be stored in a single medium or may be storedin multiple media interconnected by a network. The term “database” alsoincludes any collection of related data organized and stored in anelectronic format (e.g., a delimited ASCII file).

A caller using one of the inmate telephones 12 may be connected to acalled party 24 through network 26, which may be the PSTN, a cellularnetwork, VOIP, or any other telephony network technology. One ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate that an investigator 27 mayalso connect through network 26, for example to monitor a call inprogress between called party 24 and a caller using one of the inmatetelephones 12.

The call recording distribution system 10 also generally includes one ormore forwarding agents to transport the call recordings to each of thedesignated recipients. The term “forwarding agent” is used herein torefer to any technology that is capable of electronically addressing anddelivering a call recording file to a specified address or recipientwithout the involvement or intervention of a natural person. Preferablythe agent is a computer program. Preferably, the call recordingdistribution system 10 includes one or more of the following types offorwarding agents: email agents 28, export queuing agents 30, webservice agents 32, and voice mail agents 33.

An email agent 28 is a forwarding agent that is capable of sending acall recording as an email attachment to any valid email address. Thecall recording file can be attached to an email in any format,including, without limitation, Waveform Audio (WAV), Windows Media Audio(WMA), MPEG Audio, or any other standard media format. A call recordingfile that is attached to an email may optionally be compressed using acompression technology such as “.zip” in order to reduce the size of theattachment.

An export queuing agent 30 queues call recordings for later export toCD, DVD, or other media. In some embodiments of the invention, theexport agent 30 automatically exports queued call recordings to a mediaburner, such as the Primera Bravo Series Disc Publisher, on a scheduledbasis. It is also contemplated that recordings may be exported on anon-demand basis. By using a media burner, such as the Primera Bravo XR,the export queuing agent 30 can automatically create and label a CD,DVD, Blu-ray Disc, or other media of call recordings for eachinvestigator or recipient that has calls of interest placed during ascheduled period. Once the automatic disc publisher has created themedia, the media can be distributed to the investigator or otherrecipient, for example by a corrections officer the next time theinvestigator visits the correctional facility or via mail or courierservice. The export queuing agent 30 may reside either on the inmatephone system itself (as shown in FIG. 1) or at some other location onthe local network (not shown).

A web service agent 32 distributes a call recording by invoking a webservice handler on a remote system in order to upload the call recordingto a website. The web service handler supports forwarding callrecordings to third party systems or centralized call recordingrepositories. A web service handler may optionally compress the callrecording using a technology such as “.zip” in order to reduce the sizeof the recording for transport across a network. Interested parties canthen retrieve the call recording from the website; it is contemplatedthat access to the web site may be protected by a username/passwordcombination or other authentication routine such that only authorizedusers can access call recordings. Moreover, use of an authenticationroutine can enhance convenience by presenting an authenticatedinterested party only with those call recordings uploaded for thatparticular interested party.

A voice mail agent 33 makes call recordings available through a voicemail service, such as a dial-up voice mail service. For example, aninvestigator (e.g., investigator 27) may dial a phone number associatedwith the voice mail agent and voice mail service and enter a uniquepersonal identification number (PIN) to access the voice mail system(e.g., through network 26). Recordings that have been identified fordistribution to the investigator may then be provided as messages in thevoice mail system. Upon accessing the voice mail system, the voice mailagent 33 may notify the investigator of new messages (e.g., new callrecordings), and may prompt the investigator to play the messages back.The investigator may use the telephone keypad to enter commands, such asplay, stop, skip, rewind, fast forward, save, delete, and the like, intothe voice mail system. The investigator may be able to forward a callrecording to another user, for example by entering another user's ID. Inaddition to forwarding the call recording as a voice mail, it iscontemplated that the call recording may be forwarded according to theother user's preferences as contained in the recipients database,described below.

The email and web service agents 28, 32 can transport call recordingsover data network 34, such as an IP based local area network (LAN), widearea network (WAN), or the Internet. A firewall 36 may be provided forsecurity of the call recording distribution system 10.

The call recording distribution system 10 utilizes a set ofconfiguration items to control behavior of the system. For example,configuration items may address email server setup, call recordingformat, export media size and location, frequency of automated exportjobs, and web service destination URLs. Thus, configuration itemsfacilitate adapting the call recording distribution system 10 to thevarious operational rules of the facility in which the system isinstalled.

Preferably, configuration items are stored in configuration database 20.One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, however, thatconfiguration items may be stored in a variety of other ways, such as ina properties file or an initialization file, without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

The call recording distribution system 10 also typically contains adatabase 22 of recipients that are eligible to receive distributed callrecordings, for example via the email agent 28 or by distribution ofphysical media created through the export queuing agent 30. Theserecipients of distributed call recordings may also be referred to as“interested parties.” The recipients database 22 preferably containscontact and routing information for each recipient, such as an emailaddress to which call recordings are to be sent. Information that may bestored within recipients database 22 (e.g., as data records, sometimesreferred to herein as “recipient records”) includes, without limitation,recipient names, recipient organizations, recipient contact phonenumbers, and recipient addresses. It is also contemplated that a singlerecipient record may include information for multiple recipients (e.g.,two investigators participating in the same investigation).

The recipients database 22 may also contain the inmates, destinationphone numbers, and inmate/destination phone number combinations of whichthe recipient is interested in receiving call recordings (referred toherein as “forwarding criteria”). Other forwarding criteria, including,but not limited to, call times, call durations, and conversation content(e.g., words and/or phrases uttered during the call, topics discussedduring the call, patterns observed during the call and the like) mayalso be utilized. Audio mining of a monitored telephone conversation forconversation content is further described in U.S. provisionalapplication No. 60/901,342, filed Feb. 15, 2007, which is herebyincorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein. In addition,it is also contemplated that a forwarding criterion may be associatedwith the preferred method by which a call recording satisfying theforwarding criterion is distributed (e.g., via email, via export queue,via web service, or some combination thereof) (referred to herein as“delivery criteria”). Alternatively, delivery criteria may be associatedwith the recipient (e.g., all call recordings distributed to thisinterested party are distributed via email).

Thus, a recipient record may include contact information and the likefor one or more recipients, one or more forwarding criteria, and one ormore delivery criteria.

Phone system sever 16 includes a call recording distribution processor.The term “processor” as used herein refers to a computer microprocessorand/or a software program (e.g., a software module or separate program)that is designed to be executed by one or more microprocessors runningon one or more computer systems. The call recording distributionprocessor distributes call recordings to interested parties inaccordance with the present invention.

One method of distributing call recordings will be described inconnection with the flowchart of FIG. 2. In step 100, an inmateinitiates a phone call from one of the inmate phones 12 connected to theinmate phone system. Before placing a call, inmates are typicallyrequired to enter an input that identifies the inmate to the inmatetelephone system (e.g., a telephone ID number (“TID”), a biometric, or acombination thereof). The inmate also will enter a destination phonenumber. Provided the inmate can be authenticated to the inmate phonesystem and is permitted to make a call to the destination number (e.g.,the inmate has a sufficient commissary account balance and the call doesnot violate any rules of the correctional facility), the inmatetelephone system will route the call through the telephony network 26 tothe called party 24.

In decision block 102, which may occur when the call is answered by thecalled party 24 and connected, the call recording distribution processorexamines the call to determine if it satisfies one or more forwardingcriteria. As described above, these forwarding criteria may beassociated with entries in the recipients database 22. For example,based upon forwarding criteria, the system 10 may determine that allcalls from this particular inmate should be distributed to one or moreinterested parties. Alternatively, the system 10 may determine that allcalls to the dialed destination number should be distributed to one ormore interested parties. As still another alternative, the system 10 maydetermine that all calls from this particular inmate to the dialeddestination number should be distributed to one or more interestedparties. If the call does not meet any forwarding criteria, the “NO”exit is taken from decision block 102 and the process ends.

If, however, the call does meet one or more forwarding criteria, the“YES” exit is taken from decision block 102 and the call is recorded instep 104. Decision block 106 represents a loop that awaits thetermination of the phone call.

After the call terminates, the system distributes the call recording toall appropriate interested parties in step 108 (e.g., using one or moreforwarding agents). Distribution is preferably performed according tothe delivery criteria associated with each forwarding criterionsatisfied by the call and/or each interested party receiving thedistributed recording.

Preferably, the call recording is enclosed in a security wrapper thatverifies its authenticity and guarantees that it has not been tamperedwith. For example, the call recording may include a header that includesthe hash value of the call recording. Of course, other methods ofwatermarking, authenticating, and/or tamper-proofing the distributedcall recording are within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

In addition to providing a digital watermark, hash value, or othersecurity wrapper that guarantees authenticity of the call recording, itmay also be desirable to provide a security wrapper that encrypts thecall recording such that only authorized persons can access it. Oneexample of such a security wrapper utilizes public/private key pairs. Anauthorized user may distribute her public key to the systemadministrator who will then encode all transmissions using the intendedrecipient's public key. Only the intended recipient can decode thetransmission by using her private key—which should not distributed toanyone other than the owner who is the intended recipient. Other knownsecurity measures may also be used to help avoid an unintended recipientfrom intercepting the recording.

It is contemplated that the security wrapper applied to a particularrecording may provide only authentication, only encryption, or bothauthentication and encryption. It should be understood that securitywrapper preferences may be included in one or more of the databases, forexample as data items in the recipient records stored in the recipientsdatabase 22.

The present invention may also be configured to set a status flag inconnection with the initiation and/or status of recording activity. Forexample, a data flag may be set when the recording of the phone call iscomplete and the call recording is ready to be distributed to interestedparties.

Although several embodiments of this invention have been described abovewith a certain degree of particularity, those skilled in the art couldmake numerous alterations to the disclosed embodiments without departingfrom the spirit or scope of this invention. For example, though thepresent invention has been described in connection with a single phonesystem server 16 including a single call recording forwarding processor,the methods described above may be executed by one or more computersystems, including suitable input, output, and storage devices orinterfaces, and may be software implemented (e.g., one or more softwareprograms or modules executed by one or more computer systems ofprocessors), hardware implemented (e.g., a series of instructions storedin one or more solid state devices), or a combination of both. Thecomputer may be a conventional general purpose computer, a specialpurpose computer, a distributed computer (such as twophysically-separated computers that are linked via an intranet or theInternet), or any other type of computer. Further, the computer maycomprise one or more processors, such as a single central processingunit or a plurality of processing units, commonly referred to as aparallel processing environment.

Therefore, it is intended that all matter contained in the abovedescription or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpretedas illustrative only and not limiting. Changes in detail or structuremay be made without departing from the spirit of the invention asdefined in the appended claims.

1.-20. (canceled)
 21. A system for automatically distributing arecording of a call to an interested party, the call being placed by acalling party through an institutional system to a destination number,comprising: a storage device; and one or more processors coupled to thestorage device, the one or more processors configured to: associateforwarding criteria with the interested party; establish the call fromthe calling party to the destination number through the institutionalsystem; record the call; determine that the call satisfies theforwarding criteria associated with the interested party; after the callis completed, automatically distribute the recording of the call to theinterested party.
 22. The system according to claim 21, wherein toassociate forwarding criteria with the interested party, the one or moreprocessors are configured to: associate the calling party identity withthe interested party.
 23. The system according to claim 21, wherein toassociate forwarding criteria with the interested party, the one or moreprocessors are configured to: associate the destination number with theinterested party.
 24. The system according to claim 21, wherein toassociate forwarding criteria with the interested party, the one or moreprocessors are configured to: associate a time of call with theinterested party.
 25. The system according to claim 21, wherein toassociate forwarding criteria with the interested party, the one or moreprocessors are configured to: associate a conversation content with theinterested party.
 26. The system according to claim 21, wherein toassociate forwarding criteria with the interested party, the one or moreprocessors are configured to: associate two or more of the followingwith the interested party: calling party identity, destination number,time of call, and conversation content.
 27. The system according toclaim 21, wherein to automatically distribute the recording of the callto the interested party, the one or more processors are configured to:e-mail a copy of the recording of the call to the interested party. 28.The system according to claim 21, wherein to automatically distributethe recording of the call to the interested party, the one or moreprocessors are configured to: store the recording of the call, with amedia burner, on a physical medium; and provide the interested partywith access to the physical medium.
 29. The system according to claim21, wherein to automatically distribute the recording of the call to theinterested party, the one or more processors are configured to: placethe recording of the call in an export queue; and export the recordingof the call from the export queue to a media burner on a scheduledbasis.
 30. The system according to claim 21, wherein to automaticallydistribute the recording of the call to the interested party, the one ormore processors are configured to: upload the recording of the call to aweb site.
 31. The system according to claim 21, wherein to automaticallydistribute the recording of the call to the interested party, the one ormore processors are configured to: provide access to the recording ofthe call through a voice mail system.
 32. The system according to claim21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:establish a second call from a second calling party to a seconddestination number through the institutional system; record the secondcall; determine that the second call does not satisfy the forwardingcriteria associated with the interested party; and store withoutautomatically distributing, the recorded second call into a memory. 33.The system according to claim 21, wherein to associate forwardingcriteria with the interested party, the one or more processors areconfigured to: establish a data record including at least contactinformation for the interested party and the forwarding criteria; andstore the data record in a recipients database.
 34. The system accordingto claim 21, wherein the one or more processors are further configuredto: enclose the recording of the call in a security wrapper prior toautomatically distributing the recording of the call to the interestedparty.
 35. A system for automatically distributing a recording of a callto an interested party, comprising: a storage device; and one or moreprocessors coupled to the storage device, the one or more processorsconfigured to: store a recipient record in a recipients database, therecipient record including identity information of the interested partyand forwarding criteria to specify conditions for determining when therecording of the call will be forwarded; establish a connection betweena calling party and a called party through an institutional system;record the call between the calling party and the called party; identifythe recipient record whose forwarding criteria are met by informationassociated with the call; after the call is completed, set a status flagto indicate that the recording of the call is available for forwarding;and in response to a change in status of the status flag, automaticallydistribute the recording of the call to the interested party.
 36. Thesystem according to claim 35, wherein to automatically distribute therecording, the one or more processors are configured to: encrypt therecording of the call using an encryption key to create an encryptedrecording; and export the encrypted recording.
 37. The system accordingto claim 36, wherein the encryption key is a public key associated witha private/public key system.
 38. The system according to claim 35,wherein to automatically distribute the recording of the call, the oneor more processors are configured to: store, with a media burner, therecording of the call on a physical medium; and provide the interestedparty with access to the physical medium.
 39. The system according toclaim 35, wherein to automatically distribute the recording of the call,the one or more processors are configured to: place the recording of thecall in an export queue; and export the recording of the call from theexport queue to a media burner on a scheduled basis.
 40. The systemaccording to claim 35, wherein to automatically distribute the recordingof the call, the one or more processors are configured to: upload therecording of the call to a website.